California leads list of states for film production, but loses market share

For the second year in a row, Califoia is the top state in the nation for film production. But the share of movies being shot in the Golden State fell from 21u2009percent in 2014 to 17u2009percent last year, a new study found.

Nineteen out of 109u2009movies released by major U.S. film companies in 2015 were produced primarily in Califoia, according to FilmL.A., the film office for the greater Losu2009Angeles region.

Among the 19u2009films were “Straight Outta Compton,” “Entourage” and “The Wedding Ringer.”

But Califoia faced competition from the United Kingdom with 15 projects. Georgia and Louisiana were next with 12 projects each and Canada followed with 11.

Georgia and Louisiana, like the U.K. offer generous govement production incentive programs that Califoia just began to catch up with in mid-2015.

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British shoots generated a whopping $1.63u2009billion in production spending compared to Califoia’s in-state take of $720u2009million, due to bigger-budgeted productions in the U.K.

Of the 19u2009moves made Califoia in 2015, only three animated features had budgets over $100u2009million.

“While the credit is retuing extraordinary value and jobs, it is unable to attract the biggest live-action films,” FilmL.A. president Paul Audley observed.

If you just look at the amount of money spent where the films were shot, compared to the overall budgets of the movies, Califoia had the highest rate of retu at 92u2009percent, compared to 83 percent in Britain and only 56u2009percent in Georgia. That’s because the best equipment and people don’t need to be imported here.

“While it’s not going to be perfect for every scenario for every project, we think that it’s going to be quite competitive,” said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the Califoia Film Commission, which administers the state’s incentives program. She also noted that the second fiscal year of the program known as 2.0, which begins Julyu20091, will have $330u2009million worth of tax credits to offer, $100u2009million more than the program’s just-completed first year.

And that’ll mean more movies. Although they’re not counted in the study, films that took advantage of 2.0’s first year credits have been making a noticeable impact on the local community of vendors and below-the-line workers.

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Last weekend’s box-office champ “The Conjuringu20092,” is a prime example.

Anthony Syracuse, who heads construction crews for movies, is a Southland native who moved to Valencia last year after living out-of-state and traveling the country for work since 2010. He was soon hired onto horror hit “The Conjuringu20092” — which, though set in England, was mostly shot on Waer Bros.’ Burbank lot.

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“I’ve spent the last year here in L.A. working from project to project to project,” said Syracuse, who’s now prepping another 2.0u2009recipient, the “Conjuring” spinoff “Aabelleu20092,” at Waers. “I’ve had one week off since July of last year, and that goes down to my guys as well. My guys have been working on multiple projects, show after show, and [2.0] has just been a blessing.”